Beech, 1928
WAGL 205
Beech: A tree of the genus Fagus, characterized by smooth, light-colored bark and edible nuts partly enclosed in a prickly husk, especially F. grandifolia of eastern North America.
Builder: Southern Shipyard Corporation
Length: 101' 3"
Beam: 23'
Draft: 7' 3"
Displacement: 255 tons (fl)
Cost: $133,306
Launched: 1927
Commissioned: January 1928
Decommissioned: 23 January 1963
Disposition: Sold, 28 August 1964 (sank in 1975)
Machinery: Triple expansion steam engine; coal-fired water-tube almy boiler; 200 BHP; single propeller; steam engine replaced in 1940 with a direct line 300 BHP Cooper-Bessemer diesel engine.
Performance: 8.0 knots; 2,600-mile range @ 7.5 knots (1959)
Deck Gear: "A" frame derrick; 10 ton boom capacity; electric winch
Complement: 11-13
Armament: None
History:
Beech, a bay and sound tender built for use on Lake Champlain, replaced the tender Daisy. The steel-hulled tender was built by the Southern Shipyard Corporation of Newport News, Virginia for the Lighthouse Service. She entered service in January, 1928, and was assigned to the 3rd Lighthouse District at Staten Island, New York where she conducted general aids to navigation work. She remained based out of Staten Island for her government career. A year after the Lighthouse Service was merged into the Coast Guard, the Beech had her steam plant replaced with a Cooper-Bessemer diesel engine. She continued with her general aids to navigation work as well as search and rescue when needed.
On 16 September 1958 she assisted the Jersey Central Railroad of Newark Bay, New Jersey in a search and rescue case. On 12 January 1963 she assisted the fishing vessel Saint Anthony which was on fire 3 miles southwest of Peaked Hill Bar, Massachusetts. She was decommissioned less than two weeks later on 23 January 1963. She was sold the following year.
Sources:
Cutter History File. USCG Historian's Office, USCG HQ, Washington, D.C.
Douglas Peterson. United States Lighthouse Service Tenders, 1840-1939. Annapolis: Eastwind Publishing, 2000.
Robert Scheina. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft of World War II. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1982.
Robert Scheina. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946-1990. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1990.